At night, after all the drunk customers had left, the Boar Hat held its first staff meeting.
"So Elizabeth is this country's princess, and because of the Holy Knights' rebellion she wants to find the Seven Deadly Sins to rescue the king. And the manager is the Sins' captain, the so-called great criminal."
Stella summarized what Elizabeth had said, then huffed, "So those Holy Knights are the bad guys! Don't worry, Elizabeth-chan, Charles and I will help you send those jerks flying."
After just half a day together, the two girls—both princesses—had already become good friends.
Earlier, Charles had only given Stella a broad overview of this world; he hadn't had time to go into details.
Hearing Elizabeth's story now, Stella immediately offered to help.
What could Charles do but nod in agreement? Besides, whether it was research on Chaos or on curses, he had to travel with the two of them to proceed anyway; offering help would be the "payment."
Meliodas smiled. "That's a big help. Our first task is to find those guys. That part's a headache—we've got no intel on them at all."
Charles tapped the table. "Speaking of which, I do have some information."
Meliodas asked curiously, "What kind of information?"
Charles answered, "Aside from the Sin of Pride, who's hiding who-knows-where, I have a rough idea where the others are. Conveniently, one of them is nearby—the Sin of Envy, Diane, is in the White Dream Forest the villagers mentioned earlier. She should be easy to find."
Meliodas gave him a long look. "I'm starting to wonder who you really are. Not only are you that strong, but your intel gathering is top notch."
Charles grinned. "Hardly—just a tiny bit better than average."
He held up his thumb and forefinger with a sliver of space between to show "a tiny bit."
Meliodas was a broad-minded sort and didn't fixate on Charles's identity. "If we've got intel, let's head there tomorrow."
Everyone was the decisive type. Once the decision was made, there was no dithering. Early the next morning, traveling light, they set out for the White Dream Forest southwest of Bania.
It was called the White Dream Forest because a white mist had blanketed it for years.
Whether it was the lack of sunlight or something else, even the trees looked dead, making the place seem even more eerie and frightening.
Hands behind his head, Meliodas said casually, "I see. The paths here are unsuitable for riding, and it's especially easy to get lost. Even hunters and travelers avoid it. Definitely a good place to hide."
Elizabeth, a bit spooked by the atmosphere, asked, "But where are we supposed to look for Lady Diane?"
Charles frowned. The mist was indeed abnormal—likely a product of natural magic. It severely hampered magical sensing; for the moment even he couldn't pinpoint Diane's location.
"Still… before we find Diane, let's deal with these guys around us first."
Hawk's ears shot up. "Don't tell me the legendary monsters of the White Dream Forest have appeared! I don't want to get eaten!"
The first half was fine; the second came out much louder. Even Hawk jumped at his own voice—then turned and saw five or six "Hawks" identical to himself.
Charles rubbed his chin. While Britannia's main inhabitants were the five great races, there were many others, like the vampires who'd crossed paths with the Sins and various beast races.
These were likely "Mischief Imps," creatures that looked exactly like goblins in other worlds. As the name implied, they excelled at playing ghosts and gods to scare off intruders.
Taking advantage of the White Dream Forest's environment, they could perfectly mimic any form to frighten away those who strayed in.
But such parlor tricks only worked on ordinary people. Charles easily picked out the real one.
After all, Hawk wasn't an ordinary pig—there was no way a trick could replicate eyes that linked to Purgatory.
Hawk instinctively ran toward the group, and the fakes hurried to follow—but their steps halted at once as Charles's magic locked onto them.
"Scram."
With just that one word, all the fakes trembled; a puff of white smoke later, they reverted to their true forms.
Short bodies, ugly faces, ragged hoods that only made them look more grotesque.
Simply sensing Charles's magic made them feel mortal danger. They didn't dare linger—every last one turned and dove into the white fog.
Meliodas came up beside Charles. "You're a scary guy, you know that?"
"As a teammate, isn't 'reliable' the word you want?"
Meliodas chuckled. "Fair point."
Stella said, "Shouldn't we chase them now? They might lead us to our target."
Everyone agreed, and they hurried off in the direction the imps had fled.
In the distance, they soon saw the figure of a girl lying on her side on the ground.
"Is that a girl?" Elizabeth asked, puzzled—what would a girl be doing here?
"Could those things be about to attack her?" Hawk guessed.
"How could they? She's so petite—" Elizabeth trailed off, because "petite" didn't apply in the slightest.
The "girl" lying there was like a small hill; standing up, she'd be at least nine meters tall.
Roused from sleep by the Mischief Imps—and hearing them babble about Holy Knights—Diane's morning temper exploded.
But she quickly recognized who she'd grabbed and didn't slam Meliodas into the ground.
This time, since Meliodas and Elizabeth weren't alone (Hawk: "Don't ignore me!"), Diane didn't get jealous with Meliodas.
Of course, the bit where Diane mistook Hawk for a souvenir Meliodas brought and almost roasted him… wasn't important.
And so, the second member of the Seven Deadly Sins, the Sin of Envy, rejoined the group. The Boar Hat's next destination was Baste Prison, where major criminals were held.
Because of the spear Charles had returned to him, Gilthunder was still recovering and wouldn't be coming to the White Dream Forest. Meliodas wouldn't be deliberately getting wounded by him for intel like in the original story either.
But Baste Prison was garrisoned by Holy Knights—there would definitely be a fight. Naturally, Charles had to make some preparations.
This world had another interesting element: Sacred Treasures.
King once compared magic to lake water, and tools to different ways of drawing it out; the tools that could perfectly manifest a person's magic were called Sacred Treasures.
In other words, to wield one's full power, you needed your Sacred Treasure.
That was one reason Meliodas was underpowered now—he was using a broken blade that was a fragment of a high-grade magical tool, the Coffin of Eternal Darkness. It barely qualified as a weapon; how could it let him unleash much power?
Diane was in the same boat—carelessly having lost her Sacred Treasure, her combat power was limited.
They would get their treasures back eventually, but until then they needed substitutes. With plenty of battles ahead, they weren't the type to hide behind Charles forever.
On the road to Baste Prison, Meliodas stood on the lookout, twirling the short staff in his hands. "Feels pretty good. Didn't expect you to have this skill too, Charles."
Charles, of course, wasn't about to ride in a moving Boar Hat—he hated vehicles. He followed by flight magic, while Diane flew alongside, fiddling with her new gauntlets.
Mindful of Meliodas's trauma, Charles hadn't made him a lethal weapon—just a short staff.
For Diane, he'd made a pair of hand-guarding gauntlets.
He didn't know what this world's Sacred Treasures were like, but crafting arms that brought out power wasn't a problem for him.
Diane bumped her fists together. "Huge help. With these babies, I can send those Holy Knights flying!"
Meliodas tucked the staff into his belt. As he'd felt from the start, his instincts were spot-on—Charles was indeed an excellent ally.
(End of Chapter)
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